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‘May appease BJP, avoid’: KC Venugopal on Shashi Tharoor's remarks on Rahul Gandhi's youth outreach campaign
After Shashi Tharoor's remarks, KC Venugopal said the BJP would be “delighted” if someone finds fault with Rahul Gandhi or says anything negative about him.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's remarks on Rahul Gandhi's 'Chhatron ki Goonj' outreach program prompted KC Venugopal, Congress general secretary, to ask party leaders to refrain from making statements that would please the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Venugopal, while responding to reporters' questions on Tharoor's remarks suggesting that Gandhi's 'Chhatron Ki Goonj' outreach did not resonate with the youth as much as the Cockroach Janta Party did, said that Congress members must be “careful” and not make statements that “merely appease the BJP”.
The Alappuzha MP also said that he did not know what Tharoor said exactly.
"I have only seen his statement reported through some media channels, as far as I know. I haven't been able to hear exactly what he said," Venugopal said.
"Even if Congress members do not always strictly abide by party frameworks or discipline, we must be careful to avoid making statements that merely appease the BJP," he added, as quoted by news agency PTI.
Venugopal said that the BJP would be “delighted” and it would be the “happiest thing for them” if someone finds fault with Rahul Gandhi or says anything negative about him.
"All of us should take care, whether knowingly or unknowingly-and I don't believe he said it knowingly, nor is he likely to say it intentionally-to refrain from making such remarks," he said.
Tharoor's remarks and clarification
Tharoor said on Friday, while attending a programme in Maharashtra, that Rahul Gandhi's 'Chhatron Ki Goonj' outreach raised the same issues as the political satire outfit Cockroach Janta Party.
Also read: ‘Degrees no longer guarantee jobs’: Rahul Gandhi flags youth unemployment in UP's Prayagraj
However, when asked why the Congress rallies did not resonate with the youth as much as the CJP protest did at Jantar Mantar, Tharoor said that there was a need for the Congress to identify what was lacking.
"Correct. And that's why we need to ask ourselves what we failed to do," he said.
"Did we fail to listen? Did we fail to tap into the old cliché of having our finger on the pulse of the people? Was our finger missing from the pulse of Gen Z. That's something we really need to interrogate," Tharoor added.
On Saturday, when his remarks gained buzz, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said that his remarks were being interpreted as "an attack on my own party or its leadership".
Tharoor insisted that he was stressing that political parties must open their doors and create pathways for the next generation to gain the power to shape politics.
(With inputs from PTI)
